Refrigerator and ice reservoir container for it

ABSTRACT

An ice reservoir container for a refrigerator is provided and includes a reservoir chamber which has a base that slopes along a first vertical section plane towards an outlet opening. The gradient of the base decreases along the section plane as the distance from the outlet opening increases.

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, especially a household refrigerator or fridge-freezer combination, with an ice dispenser, as well as to an ice container reservoir for such an ice dispenser.

An ice dispenser for a refrigerator is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,219 which is divided into a storage bin and a crusher, with a lifting and metering drum being arranged between the storage bin and the crusher which, by its rotation, is intended to transport ice cubes in a controlled manner out of the storage bin into the crusher. The storage bin has a floor sloping down towards the lifting and metering drum, so that the ice cubes tend to collect at the end of the storage bin adjacent to the lifting and metering drum. Such an tendency is desirable when the quantity of ice cubes in the storage bin is small in order to ensure that ice cubes can always be caught and transported away by the drum. If however the fill level of the storage bin is high, the inclination of the floor increases the pressure of the ice cubes against the lifting and metering drum, which leads to ice cubes in the vicinity of the lifting and metering drum having an increased tendency to wedge against each other and freeze solid. Although the ice cubes can be broken loose again by an agitator fitted in the storage bin, over the long term this leads to the ice cubes in the storage bin fragmenting and possibly freezing together into irregularly formed chunks.

The object of the present invention is to create a storage reservoir in which ice cubes can be stored intact over a long period and out of which they can be transported at any time without difficulty.

The object is achieved by, in an ice reservoir container with a reservoir chamber which features a floor sloping down along a first vertical sectional plane to an outlet opening, the gradient in the floor along the sectional plane reducing as the distance from the outlet opening increases. Thus the weight of ice cubes which are in the ice reservoir far from the outlet opening makes no or little contribution to the pressure to which the ice cubes are subjected with a high fill level at the outlet opening. This reduces the tendency of the ice cubes to freeze together and there is a correspondingly small probability of them fragmenting if it is necessary to break them apart.

The gradient can decrease continually along the sectional plane; however a cross-sectional form with a gradient which reduces in stages also comes in consideration. To enable ice cubes to be broken apart where necessary an agitator is provided in the storage reservoir. This agitator is preferably able to be rotated around an axis running in the cross-sectional plane

The agitator preferably features pushers projecting radially from the axis, with the length of the pushers in the radial direction reducing as the distance from the outlet opening increases, so that over the overall length of the agitator a gap width that remains approximately equal between the radial ends of the pushers and the floor of the storage reservoir is able to be realized.

The agitator can be a rod which a shape curved in one plane.

The object is also achieved by a refrigerator featuring an ice reservoir container as defined above.

Further features and advantages of the invention emerge from the subsequent description which refers to the enclosed figures. The figures show:

FIG. 1 a schematic section through a household appliance with an ice reservoir container in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 a perspective view of one of two shells forming the ice reservoir container;

FIG. 3 a schematic cross section of the reservoir container; and

FIG. 4 a schematic longitudinal section of a reservoir container in accordance with a modified embodiment.

The refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 in a schematic cross section has a heat-insulating carcass 1 and a door 2, which delimit an interior 3. The interior 3 is kept at a temperature of below 0° C. by an evaporator, which is accommodated in an evaporator chamber divided off in the upper area of the carcass 1. An automatic ice maker 5 is arranged in the immediate vicinity of the evaporator chamber 4 in the interior 3, so that it can preferably have cold air applied to it from the evaporator chamber 4. In a known way not shown in detail in the figure, the ice maker comprises a plurality of molds, means for automatically dosing water into the molds and also means for automatically ejecting the completed ice cubes from the molds. Below the ice maker 5 is a reservoir chamber 6 open to the top of an ice dispensing module 7 which receives the ejected ice cubes. The ice dispensing module 7 extends over a majority of the depth of the interior 3 and can for example be injection molded in one piece from plastic or be assembled from a plurality of injection-molded elements. Accommodated in a rear recess 8 of the ice dispensing module 7 is an electric motor for driving an agitator 9. The electric motor can be permanently mounted in the refrigerator or can be integrated into the ice dispensing module and be removable along with the latter. The agitator 9 extends in the vertical direction of the interior 3 or in the longitudinal direction of the reservoir chamber 6 through the latter and through a crusher chamber 10 adjoining the reservoir chamber 6 adjacent to the door 2.

The agitator 9 is a metal rod, which in its section extending through the reservoir chamber is bent in a plane parallel to its axis of rotation in a zig-zag form. Attached in the section of the agitator 9 penetrating into the crusher chamber 10 are knives of a crushing unit, so that they rotate with the rotation of the the agitator 9. Further knives 12 accommodated in the crusher chamber 10 can be switched between a state in which they rotate jointly with the knives 11 and like these merely act as pushers on the ice cubes penetrating into the crusher chamber 10, and a fixed state in which the ice cubes are crushed between them and the knives 11, for example with the aid of a bar (not shown), which is able to be pushed through the wall of the crusher chamber 10, in order to block or to enable the rotation of the knives 12 as required.

Through an opening on the underside of the crusher chamber 10 the ice, either crushed or in cubes depending on the state of the knives 12, arrives in a passage 13 which extends through a layer of insulation material of the door 2 and opens out into a recess 14 open to the outside of the door 2. A flap 15 normally holds the passage 13 closed to prevent the penetration of warm air into the interior 3. The flap is only open for as long as the agitator 9 is rotating to dispense ice through the passage 13 into a container placed in the recess 14.

A water tank 16 is embedded on the rear wall of the recess 14 in the insulation material of the door 2. The watertank 16 is connected on one side like the ice maker 5 via a supply line 17 and a stop valve 18 to the drinking water network and on the other side to a dispenser tap 19 in the recess 14.

FIG. 2 shows the perspective view of a shell 20 of the ice dispenser module 7 which together with an opposing piece essentially symmetrical to it in a mirror image, not shown in the figure, delimits the reservoir chamber 6. Visible on the rear side of the shell 20 is the recess for accommodating the motor not shown in the diagram. A cutout on a rear wall 25 of the shell 20 facing towards the recess 8, together with its opposing piece, forms a circular window 21 which is intended to accommodate an essentially cylindrical coupling piece 22 so that it can rotate. The coupling piece 22 has on its front side facing towards the observer in FIG. 2 a slit 23 into which an angled end section of the agitator 9 (not shown in FIG. 2) can be inserted. Cutouts not shown on the rear side of the coupling piece 22 make possible a interlocking engagement of the motor.

The reservoir chamber 6 has a base 27 which slopes in the longitudinal direction from the rear wall 25 to a front wall 26 adjoining the crushing chamber 10, which on a rotation of the agitator 9 causes ice cubes carried by the agitator to move towards the crushing chamber 10 and finally to arrive through an opening 28 in the front wall 26 in the crushing chamber 10 (not shown in FIG. 2). The gradient of the base 27 increases continuously from the rear wall 25 to the front wall 26 so that the tendency of the ice cubes to move towards the crushing chamber 10 is all the greater the closer to said chamber they are. Ice cubes located close to the rear wall 25 thus make little contribution to the pressure acting on the ice cubes located in the vicinity of the front wall 26 and applied to these cubes in the direction of the crushing chamber 10. This means that the tendency of these ice cubes to freeze together or to jam is small even with a high fill level of the ice in the reservoir chamber 6.

FIG. 3 shows a section through the ice dispenser module 7 at right angles to the axis of rotation of the agitator. The base 27 has a semicircular cross-sectional shape, with the axis of rotation of the agitator 9 running through the center point of the rounding of the base 27. This means that there are no corners in the reservoir chamber 6 in which ice cubes can wedge and can block the rotation of the agitator 9.

To be able to effectively prevent the ice cubes in the reservoir chamber 6 freezing together, it is desirable to be able to rotate the agitator 9 from time to time, even when no ice is to be dispensed. Various solutions enter into consideration for avoiding an undesired output of ice during a rotation of the agitator 9. One solution is based on the fact already mentioned that the knives 12 in the crushing chamber are able to be rotated jointly with the knives 11. It is thus sufficient to provide a closable flap at the output of the crushing chamber 10 which is closed when no output of ice is desired and to rotate the knives 12 jointly with the agitator 9. In this case the ice cubes will be moved both in the reservoir chamber 6 and also in the crushing chamber at 10, but not crushed.

A second solution is to provide a closable flap between reservoir chamber 6 and crushing chamber 10. When it is closed the agitator 9 and the knives 11 can rotate—without recourse to the state—fixed or rotatable—of the knives 12.

A third solution is to provide a coupling between the knives 11 and the agitator 9 which allows the agitator 9 to rotate while the knives 11 remain at rest and thus block the incursion of ice into the crushing chamber 10 or the output of ice from said chamber.

FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal section through a second embodiment of the reservoir chamber 6. Whereas this curved shape of the base 27 in its longitudinal section in the diagram depicted in FIG. 2 is shown with a gradient continuously increasing towards the front wall 26, in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4 the reservoir container is divided up in the longitudinal direction into a number of sections 29, 30, 31, with the gradient of the base 27 being constant in each case in each section and increasing in stages from the rear wall 25 to the front wall 26 at the boundaries of sections 29, 30, 31. The design of the agitator 9 is adapted to the shape of the base 27; the amplitude of the individual waves 32 formed in the agitator 9 increases towards the front side 26 so that the crests of all waves 32 move across the base 27 at an essentially equal distance.

The cross-section depicted in FIG. 4 also shows the end piece of the agitator already mentioned with reference to FIG. 1, labeled with the number 24 in this diagram, which is inserted into the slits 23 of the coupling piece 22, as well as two cutouts 33 on the rear side of the coupling piece which allow a positive and non-positive engagement of the motor. 

1-7. (canceled)
 8. An ice reservoir container for a refrigerator, the ice reservoir comprising: an outlet opening; and a reservoir chamber having a base sloping downwardly along a first vertical sectional plane to the outlet opening, the gradient of the slope of the base along the sectional plane reducing as the distance from the outlet opening increases.
 9. The ice reservoir container as claimed in claim 8, wherein the gradient reduces continuously along the first sectional plane.
 10. The ice reservoir container as claimed in claim 8, wherein the gradient reduces in stages along the first sectional plane.
 11. The ice reservoir container as claimed in claim 8 and further comprising an agitator capable of being rotated around an axis in the sectional plane.
 12. The ice reservoir container as claimed in claim 11, wherein the agitator includes pushers projecting radially from the axis, with the length of the pushers in the radial direction decreasing as the distance from the outlet opening increases.
 13. The ice reservoir container as claimed in claim 11, wherein the agitator is a rod with a shape curved in one plane.
 14. A refrigerator comprising: a housing; and an ice reservoir container having an outlet opening and a reservoir chamber having a base sloping downwardly along a first vertical sectional plane to the outlet opening, the gradient of the slope of the base along the sectional plane reducing as the distance from the outlet opening increases. 